Canon Couples Dribbles
by dreamflower02
Summary: A series of poems for the Back-to-Middle-earth-Month Bingo card, "Canon Couples". A dribble (yes, dribble not drabble) for each pairing on the card, ranges from humorous to serious, and includes couples both famous and obscure: Hobbits, Men, Elves, Maiar and even Valar. Book-verse. (I've now completed all couples on the card.) Most recent: DenethorFinduilas.
1. Frodo Officiates

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", O-61  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Rose Cotton, Sam, Frodo  
 **Pairings:** Rose Cotton/Sam Gamgee  
 **Creator's Notes:** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
It's my headcanon that as Deputy Mayor, Frodo performed some weddings, Sam's foremost among them.  
 **Summary:** Deputy Mayor Frodo Baggins proudly officiates at a wedding.

 **Frodo Officiates**

Over years I watched as shy love began to bloom,  
hoping for the day when their shyness was overcome.  
My own fault that it was delayed,  
dragging my friend into dark danger.  
At the end of all things,  
his thoughts were of her.  
Now we are home.  
I speak vows  
to join  
them.


	2. Blue Mantle

**B2MeM Challenge:** Canon Couples, O-67, "Faramir/Eowyn" (this does not count, as it wasn't done in time.)  
 **Format:** Dribble  
 **Title:** Blue Mantle  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** N /A  
 **Characters:** Faramir, implied Eowyn  
 **Pairings:** Faramir/Eowyn  
 **Summary:** Faramir goes in search of a special gift.

 **Blue Mantle**

He climbed the stairs to that part of the Tower  
where none had dared to go for many years.  
Behind the locked door lay his mother's rooms,  
kept untouched, shrine to his father's sorrow.  
Within he found what he sought:  
soft star spangled twilight,  
a waterfall of velvet.  
It will suit  
his shieldmaiden  
well.


	3. Grey Sails at Sunset

**B2MeM Challenge:** Canon Couples, I-22, "Celeborn and Galadriel"  
 **Format:** Dribble  
 **Title:** Grey Sails at Sunset  
 **Genre:** Poetry  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** N /A  
 **Characters:** Celeborn, Galadriel  
 **Pairings:** Celeborn/Galadriel  
 **Summary:** Someone else besides three hobbits watched that ship sail from the Grey Havens.

 **Grey Sails at Sunset**

For three ages of the world they have been together;  
The fourth sees them apart. She passed the test.  
She passes into the West, sailing, sailing West.  
She is not diminished in his eyes.  
Nor will her beauty fade away.  
He watches the grey sails.  
His time will come.  
She will wait.  
Love is  
Strong.


	4. Astron Wedding

**B2MeM Challenge:** I-27: Canon couples, "Pippin/Diamond", I-27: Shirish, "Astron ("spring is in full bud")  
 **Format:** Dribble  
 **Title:** Astron Wedding  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** N /A  
 **Characters:** Pippin, Diamond, assorted hobbit wedding guests  
 **Pairings:** Pippin/Diamond  
 **Summary:** It's a perfect day for a hobbit wedding.

 **Astron Wedding**

Spring is in full bud and the clouds skitter high  
in the heavens, a perfect day for a wedding.  
Family and friends, kith and kin, all gathered  
to celebrate an event most eagerly awaited—  
especially by the bride and groom.  
His heart is in his eyes;  
he sees only her:  
dashing Captain Peregrin  
and his  
Diamond.


	5. Alliance

**B2MeM Challenge:** Canon Couples N-38, "Valacar/Vidumavi"  
 **Format:** Dribble  
 **Title:** Alliance  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** N /A  
 **Author's Notes:** According to Appendix A, Valacar was the Prince of Gondor. His father sent him on a diplomatic mission to Rhovannion, where he fell in love with the King of Rhovannion's daughter, Vidumavi. They married, but the people of Gondor were angry that he married an "outsider" from a "barbarian race". Their son Eldacar was not accepted by many Gondorians, and it was this that led to the Kin-strife.  
 **Characters:** Valacar, Vidumavi  
 **Pairings:** Valacar/Vidumavi  
 **Summary:** Valacar finds more than he meant to on his mission to Rhovanion...

 **Alliance**

He rode North to a distant land, young and untried,  
at his father's bidding, seeking knowledge, adventure and alliance.  
What he found was an alliance most unexpected.  
Fair she was, with hair like sunlight,  
and eyes like a summer sky.  
She had an unbridled laugh  
and an honest tongue.  
He loved her:  
to Gondor's  
ruin.


	6. Forty Years in the Wilderness

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", I-20  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Aragorn, Arwen  
 **Pairings:** Aragorn/Arwen  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
 **Summary:** Forty years is a long time for an engagement. Wedding day musings.

 **Forty Years in the Wilderness**

It was on Cerin Amroth where we pledged our troth,  
a golden day like no other I have known.  
But the road would be a long one:  
laid out before us was our destiny  
a winding path through dark peril  
to tread ere we could  
once more be together.  
Now and forever:  
I love  
him.


	7. Reeds by the Shady Pool, Lilies on the W

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", G-47  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Tom Bombadil, Goldberry  
 **Pairings:** Tom Bombadil/Goldberry  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
 **Summary:** Did Tom really catch Goldberry? Or was it the other way around...

 **Reeds by the Shady Pool, Lilies on the Water**

Goldberry, the River woman's daughter was clever as an otter.  
Old Tom Bombadil set his mind to catch her,  
Along the Withywindle, he thought he was Master.  
Dressed in green she sang among rushes,  
pretty songs for birds in bushes.  
Tom came and caught her,  
Or so he thought.  
Till he heard  
her victorious  
laughter.


	8. SR 1463: The Wedding of the Year

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples",  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:**  
 **Pairings:**  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
 **Summary:** A long-awaited wedding makes Talk in the Shire.

 **S.R. 1463: The Wedding of the Year**

This day has been a very long time in coming.  
The bride and the groom are much in love;  
childhood sweethearts are quite common in the Shire,  
and their fathers' friendship made it easy.  
Still, the gossip was there.  
Thain's son, gardener's daughter?  
Faramir and Goldilocks  
Do not  
care.


	9. The Bashful and the Bold

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", G-57  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Bungo Baggins/Belladonna Took  
 **Pairings:** Bungo Baggins/Belladonna Took  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
 **Summary:** The courtship of Bilbo's parents: sometimes opposites do attract.

 **The Bashful and the Bold**

Bumbling, bashful Bungo Baggins built for beautiful Belladonna, Bag End.  
Bravely he had asked if he could woo her,  
beaming, the Old Took blithely gave his permission.  
But bold Belladonna was quite sadly capricious.  
Bungo Baggins was bound and determined,  
Belladonna yielded her bright heart  
Before his brave devotion.  
Both were blessed,  
Belladonna became  
Baggins.


	10. When Friends Play Cupid

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", I-25  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Éomer, Lothiriel  
 **Pairings:** Éomer/Lothiriel  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
We learn of Éomer's marriage to Lothiriel in the Tale of Years in Appendix B. The two of them seemed exceptionally well-matched; formally arranged marriages do not seem the norm in Middle-earth, but friends and family probably did not mind their own business there either.  
 **Summary:** Sometimes the matchmakers are right.

 **When Friends Play Cupid**

Kin and friends and other folk thought they were suited,  
a perfect match in their station and in temperament.  
He was too proud to admit them right;  
she too haughty for the same reason.  
How could others ever know them  
so much better than themselves?  
It took "chance" encounters  
to prove them  
most happily  
wrong.


	11. With Manwë Dwells Varda

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", N-43  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Manwë, Varda  
 **Pairings:** Manwë/Varda  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
In _The Silmarillion_ , Manwë is, of course, the chief of the Valar, and Varda (also known as Elbereth) is his wife.  
 **Summary:** The Lord of Air and the Lady of the Stars are well-matched...

 **With Manwë Dwells Varda...**

King of Heights, Master of the Air, Lord of Eagles,  
the Ruler of the Sky all through the Day.  
The night belongs to She who scattered stars,  
the jewels of Heaven blessing the darkness,  
lifting the hearts of those below.  
They rule Arda between them,  
He and She see  
the world below,  
guiding with  
devotion.


	12. Andreth Mourns Aegnor

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", O-68  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Aegnor, Andreth  
 **Pairings:** Aegnor/Andreth  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
This one was difficult. I had to research them, because I only barely knew the bones of their story. It was in reading her conversation with Finrod, and seeing the rather bleak view of death and the fate of Men that she held even then, that I began to see my way with this. I still feel a bit shaky on First Age ground, and hope that I got it right.  
 **Summary:** Andreth mourns the Elf she had grown to love.

 **Andreth Mourns Aegnor**

Wise I am accounted, a woman of lore and knowledge.  
But was it wisdom to give my heart to  
one of the Eldar, though he loved me?  
The Nameless one has marred the world.  
My belovéd meant to live forever  
has now left me grieving.  
I cannot find him.  
I will die,  
We are  
sundered.


	13. Fate and Destiny

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", O-66  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Námo, Vairë  
 **Pairings:** Námo/Vairë  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
 **Summary:** The union of Námo and Vairë is meant to be.

 **Fate and Destiny** **  
**  
He is the Doomsman of the Valar, executing Eru's will,  
and she the Weaver of the tapestry of time.  
And he sees each person's fate to come,  
While she weaves pictures of the world.  
Some there are who dread them;  
together they two are destiny.  
They see and obey,  
In Eru's will  
they are  
complete.


	14. The Gardener's Daughter and the Farmer'

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", I-28  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Tom Cotton, Marigold Gamgee  
 **Pairings:** Tom Cotton/Marigold Gamgee  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
 **Summary:** The Gamgees and the Cottons were distant cousins and good friends; sometimes childhood friendships can become more.

 **The Gardener's Daughter and the Farmer's Son  
**  
He always saw me as just his friend's little sister,  
and o' course, his own little sister's best friend.  
He used to chase me, pull my braids,  
and I'd tease him somewhat awful.  
But one summer it changed.  
His eyes met mine,  
I'd grown up.  
Him, too.  
Good!


	15. My Magnificent Merry

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", G-49  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Merry Brandybuck, Estella Bolger  
 **Pairings:** Merry Brandybuck/Estella Bolger  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
For further notes see the end of this poem  
 **Summary:** How did Merry win Estella's heart?

 **My Magnificent Merry  
**  
He came home a shining hero and saved my brother,  
locked in a dark and dangerous place by Ruffians.  
Gratitude soon became respect, and admiration became more.  
He told me stories of faraway places,  
and tales of heroes and courage.  
He spoke of joy and sorrow,  
of love finally fulfilled,  
and so won  
my heart  
forever.

 **Author's End Notes:** In my 'verse, Merry comes home to find Estella had spent the time of the Occupation sheltered in Brandy Hall. She's very grateful for his part in the rescue of her brother. The two spend time together, and he tells her tales of some of the wonders of his travels, and of Faramir and Eowyn, and of Aragorn and Arwen.


	16. Hard Choices

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", O-73, B-3  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Finwë, Miriel, Indis  
 **Pairings:** Finwë/Miriel, Finwë/Indis  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
Since these two prompts really belong together, I am making an exception, and this one will be a double inverted dribble, the first with Miriel, the second with Indis. See end notes for more about them.  
 **Summary:** Some choices are worse than others, but how can anyone know how they will turn out?

 **Hard Choices**

I took Miriel to wife ere I ever came West,  
and great and glad was our joy in journeying.  
To the Lands of the Valar we came,  
a place of peace and of plenty.  
Here we would found a family.  
Fate is a fickle thing  
and pays no heed  
to the plans  
of Elves,  
ever.

Forever  
left alone,  
life in ruins.  
Indis cared for me.  
Why should I be tied  
to one who had abandoned me?  
The choices we were given were harsh.  
I thought to have a partner for life.  
Now a chance came to me for happiness again.  
What knew I then of fate or doom to come?

 **End Notes:** (In _The Silmarillion,_ Finwë is the King of the Noldorin Elves in the First Age; he is already married to Miriel. When Miriel gave birth to Fëanor she was so worn and exhausted by his birth that she faded and died. But she rejected the her chance to return to the world and her husband. Finwë was left alone to face all the millennia until the end of the world alone. When he realized Indis cared for him, he petitioned the Valar to remarry. They only agreed on the condition that Miriel NEVER returns to the world. Miriel agreed. But Fëanor was embittered by his father's remarriage and was estranged from his stepmother and half-brothers. It was his bitterness that led to all the trouble between the Noldor and the rest of the Elves.)


	17. I Know Not How I Sink or Swim

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples",  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Elrond, Celebrian  
 **Pairings:** Elrond/Celebrian  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
The title comes from an old Scottish ballad. "The Water is Wide".  
 **Summary:** Elrond, after Celebrian sails.

 **I Know Not How I Sink or Swim**

The days are longer now that she is not here:  
around each corner, in every room, I miss her presence.  
Others have left me, parents, guardians, brother, king-  
none have cut so sharply as this,  
have cloven my heart like this.  
Yet I still have hope.  
The time will come,  
I can sail;  
she awaits  
me.


	18. My Heart Will Have Wings

**B2MeM Challenge:** 2016 Memories; 2012 BINGO, "Canon Couples", N-33  
 **Format:** Poetry, Dribble  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** n/a  
 **Characters:** Eärendil, Elwing  
 **Pairings:** Eärendil/Elwing  
 **Creators' Notes (optional):** I began some of these dribbles for the "Canon Couples" card in 2012, and decided to see how many more of them I could complete this year.  
The title is a line from the song The Evening Star by Jon Anderson, which inspires this poem.  
 **Summary:** Elwing flies to her love.

 **My Heart Will Have Wings to Meet You There**

Unexpectedly, I am lifted up, away from the wild waves  
that crash and roar beneath me; I have wings!  
But I cannot turn back to my sons;  
may our enemies find mercy on them.  
Forward then, to the Uttermost West  
where my belovéd is bound.  
May I find him  
safe from harm!  
Once more,  
together.


	19. We Call a Man Cold When He Is Only Sad

(Written in March 2012 for "Back to Middle-earth Month")

 **B2MeM Challenge:** B-6, Canon Couples, "Denethor/Finduilas"  
 **Format:** Dribble  
 **Title:** We Call a Man Cold When He Is Only Sad  
 **Genre:** Romance  
 **Rating:** G  
 **Warnings:** N /A  
 **Characters:** Denethor, Finduilas  
 **Pairings:** Denethor/Finduilas  
 **Author's Notes:** Title from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  
 **Summary:** Sorrow has much to answer for...

 **We Call a Man Cold When He Is Only Sad**

He was so solemn, so serious, so sad, so unsmiling;  
something made her eager to coax just one smile,  
and then only one seemed a small victory  
in the light of his glad face.  
But how could she have foreseen  
her own smiles would fail  
in the Mountain's shadow?  
Her joy lost,  
she faded  
away.


End file.
